The newspapers and online blogs mostly cover the ultra luxury market and their supposed glut or balanced inventory depending on which report you believe. However, the starter apartment market is very low on inventory right now and there isn’t any relief in site. The only exception is apartments with very high carrying charges. Typically, first time buyers are more concerned with monthly payments than the more affluent neighbors. Continue reading Starter apartments in Manhattan low inventory→

According to HauteLiving, the highest penthouse in NYC is no longer on the market thanks to a Saudi Arabian billionaire-Fawaz Alhokair. The 8,255 square foot condo has 6bd/7bathrooms and a wood burning fireplace. $95 million was the reported price. If and when this deal closes, it will be the 2nd most expensive residential apartment sold in Manhattan behind the purchase of two floors atop the poster child for Billionaire’s Row: One57.

Mr. Alhokair’s company operates more than 2100 stores in fashion including having licenses for Zara, Banana Republic and Gap.

432 Park avenue is currently the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere. Prices start at $17mm up to $81mm for another penthouse. The building will have 125 units spread over 96 floors.

This one bedroom/one bath condo has entered the market at the low asking price of $549,900. It is a foreclosure which in this case means it’s already owned by the bank. It features a nice sized kitchen, wood floors, solarium and a loft bedroom. The Buckingham East is a doorman building. Monthlies total about $1800 per month. We anticipate this will be sold to the best offer over the ask. Offers are due in by the end of this week at the latest. View the listing below.

According to DNAINFO, Central Park above 72 street will become car free permanently. Local politicians have been pushing for this change for the last several years. Mayor DeBlasio has now made both Central Park and Prospect Park car free. The DOT in New York did research to see if there would be impact of making the park car free and found there would be little or no impact on traffic congestion. The transverses will remain open for vehicles.

370 Central Park west, the lovely Tudor building that sits at the corner of 97th street and CPW is a prewar with a renovated lobby and unique layouts. A loft is about to come on the market with a working fireplace and 12′ ceilings. Ideally convertible into either a 1 or 2 bedroom, this apartment has monthly maintenance of $1841. N,S,E,W exposure are yours as are lovely wood floors a pass through kitchen with window and a floor to ceiling closet. Right now it’s being painted and will be staged shortly. First showings in about 2 weeks. The asking price for this loft in a doorman building will be $1,150,000.

Legislators failed to come to agreement on new rent regulation laws by Midnight Monday but approximately 2 million people in NYC are being told that their leases remain in effect until the lease term ends. Also according to 7online, Governor Cuomo will keep the legislator in session until an agreement is reached. Democrats are in favor of continuation of rent laws to protect many New York city residents while Republicans want to extend the existing laws for 8 years. Of course building owners affected by rent control laws want deregulation and would make a windfall if that ever happened.

The Governor has warned any landlord who attempts to exploit the temporary end of the rent laws, that they will be prosecuted. According to reports, 311 has been swamped with phone calls of rent controlled NYC tenants who want to know what their status is right now. Mayor DeBlasio considers this an emergency along the lines of a major snow storm. What do you think they should do with the rent control laws?

According to NYT, there are about 100 building in Manhattan, that have land or ground leases. Due to the rental payments they need to make on the land, they tend to have high monthly charges. Also, sometimes as in the case of Trump Plaza at 167 East 61 street, increases in the land lease can lead to a sharp inrease in the monthlies. With this on the horizon, the co-op Board at Trump Plaza decided to buy the land from the owner. In order to do this, there was to be a large assessment of several hundred thousand dollars to a few million for each apartment. Without the purchase of the land,due to a deal that Donald Trump made when he constructed the building, the maintenance figures would have gone so high that the apartments would have been worthless.

So it pays to excercise caution when purchasing in a building with a land lease. Although, according to the NYT article, there are some very sophisticated buyers who are purchasing in Land lease buildings. All of Battery Park city is on a land lease and as a result, values in some buildings go up generally less than the market as whole due to the high carrying charges. In Battery Park City, each building makes a different deal with the City so it pays to excercise caution and find out when the land lease is due to expire and estimate what the carrying charges will be at that time. Many buildings pay a percentage of the fair market value for the rental of the land. As a result, of the current sky high price of land, the land lease prices will spike up as well.

275 West 96 street is a condo building that sits at the corner of 96th street and Broadway and was built in 1983. It has a swimming pool, health club, children’s playroom, and garage among it’s amenity package. The Columbia is 32 stories high with 320 units and was developed by William Zeckendorf Jr.

Many of the apartments have baconies and views of the Hudson. Current availabilites include two apartments-a 1 bedroom for $949k and a 2bd/2ba for $1,500,000. Common charges and taxes combine for a normal $2 per square foot especially given the large amount of amenities.

Rentals are available at $3500 for a 1 bedroom and slightly more than $5k for 2bd/2ba.

Brazilian Billionaire Edson Bueno who sold most of his stake in his insurance and hospital company to UnitedHealth Group for $4.9 billion 3 years ago, purchased his 80th floor crash pad in One57 for $53M. According to NYDN, he bought it under a corporation. The apartment is 6240 sqft with 4 bedroms and 4 bathrooms and is located in the building that holds the record for most expensive residence sale at $100.47M. The apartment will be used as a pied-a-terre when the family is in NYC.

This sale is the ninth most expensive of all time in NYC but will likely be pushed lower on the list with several new condos being built in around Billionaire’s Row including 220 CPS which has already over $1 billion in sales according to reports.